Freedom.
'Tyrants Issue 32. "Occupied Territory, Part Nine- Freedom." ' Front cover- a close-up of the sides of the faces of Null and Kaan'Qsst, staring each other down, Null on the left of the cover, Kaan'Qsst on the right. The comic opens with Null keeping his fists tightly to his chest as he charges them with energy, as the bright white arcs of energy fly from them. In the bottom panel of the opening page, Kaan'Qsst instinctively raises a hand in front of his face as the energy bombards him. On the following page, the following panel shows Kaan'Qsst in the same pose, but his body is filled with bright white lights, coinjoined in a massive matrix of interweaving lines of energy. In the next panel, the energy lines flare, becoming more interwoven. The comic shows Null's hands in the foreground pointing at Kaan'Qsst; they have the same motes of light, conjoined by pulsing lines of energy, though the lights are considerable smaller and less bright, the connecting lines of energy, thinner. Narration (Null)- "I can see each nanite, or rather, I can locate them, by their energy output, each of which is increased in order to maintain Kaan'Qsst's armour. Each nanite generates its own energy, its own electrical communication with the other nanites." Kaan'Qsst doubles over as his body just seems to become a white eclipse inside, with the outline of his body still present. Narration (Null)- "The nanites are more advanced than Blitzkrieg's, in standard operation at least. The energy output by each nanite must be concerted to maintain the armour form. I can subvert that energy, try and fry the organic matter." Kaan'Qsst grips the ground with one large hand, dragging it across, leaving tracks in the earth, as he is shown as human eyes would see him, mouth open in a defiant roar, though no sound escapes. Narration (Null)- "I hope I can kill him quickly. Use all the energy at once. Extinguish him. Spare him the pain. At least Blitzkrieg's commands were not so specific to torture him..." Icarus is shown, still struggling, as Glub attempts to explode out of his body. Narration- "Perhaps Glub's commands were more specific. But then, he was a hero. Blitzkrieg loves to torture the heroes. Me, I am just a tool. A blunt instrument." Null looks to the razorback behind him, the single remaining dinosaur with him to be at least concious. "I am no different to Blitzkrieg than this creature. One single minion in an endless army." Kaan'Qsst picks himself upright, and walks into the wave of energy. His hands reach out for Null, though there is still some distance between them. "Try... harder..." Kaan'Qsst is shown as Null seems him, the energy glow from his nanites still a complex weaving, but less bright. Narration- "He is dampening the flow from his own nanites. And now I am going to be crushed. Perhaps it would not be so bad. What do I have to fight for, anyway?" Null then wraps his arms around him. "Ahhhh... energy, coursing through..." He then looks at himself, and the reader sees his body as he sees it, filled with tiny motes of light connected up like a tapestry. In the next panel, half of the light motes are gone, as the tapestry starts to break up. Null looks to the razorbacks, as the energy output of his nanites unravels as well. In the next panel, Null glows with no more lights, but Kaan'Qsst still has his. "The nanites... their energy output decimated. Useless. I cannot see them anymore" he says out loud. Kaan'Qsst stands still, one hand on a hip. "More than that. The Titans found out a way to destroy the nanites themselves. They are gone. I can sense them no more." "Yours are still present." Null points a finger at Kaan'Qsst. "Mine are different. Clearly their virus was selective." Kaan'Qsst places hands on his hips. "Well done, Titans. Well done." "You say well done, but you aren't smiling." "It is a clever move. But one I can no longer use for my purposes." Kaan'Qsst folds out various weapons in each finger, some kind of dispensers. "Of course, I could dispense my own nanites, establish my own control. But the Titans would only defeat that as well. And you, I assume." Null removes his mask, letting it droop to the floor as the hand holds it tight, showing the face of Graham Stevens. "I am no hero to oppose you." "But you would still not fight for me." "Perhaps I would. But not as some nanite controlled machine. I would disappear and leave the superbeings to their business..." he lets his hands glow a little, and then relinquishes the glow. "But now I am one of them. There must be purpose in that." "It was Blitzkrieg's. He enhanced you." "But not everyone. He knew I would be useful." Kaan'Qsst puts a finger to his chin. "If deployed against the Kraan, you could disrupt their cybernetics, their plasma generators. From what I could see, you could decimate them. But, yours is not the power to take on an invading armada." Stevens places his mask back on his face. "It could be. With augmentation. You seek an army. I can do little about that, But I could provide you with weapons. Or one big weapon. Something to channel my newfound power through." Kaan'Qsst smiles. "A fleet-wide disrupter." "Perhaps." "Why would you help me?" "Its my planet." "Then why not return to the GSPD when the Titan's soon relinquish this city from its containment?" "My true name is Dr Graham Stevens. I am a pariah to the superbeings of Earth. Even if I masked my identity still, they would not trust me to help, let the truth come out. I worked in their laboraties, producing Surge and Nullifier for them. That, was a penance. But with power... I am sure they would only fear me." "Surge and Nullifier... it seems you can not only bring me weapons. But my army as well." Kaan'Qsst steps forward holding out a hand. Behind them, Glub slithers out of Icarus's body, into a massive 60ft pile of ooze, with multiple blinking eyes and one large mouth. "Free... free... oh great Zeus... Glub is free..." Icarus, now free of the alien, stands tall, and turns blazing eyes upon the aliens "...KILL YOU!" "No, no please..." he manifests hands "Glub is free. Nanites.. gone. No longer burn. Pain gone!" Orange wings of energy blaze out of Icarus's back "You think I CARE!" He booms. Glub's eyes dart around. "Oh no... Stevens... Kaan'Qsst... arch-enmy... dinosaur... crazy crazy man..." He looks to Parry, lying unconscious on the floor. "Parry down.. outnumbered. So outnumbered. But Kaan'Qsst... planning. But to fight Kraan. Stop Kraan. Glub Vor too. Glub hate Kraan too..." He shoots a tendril and picks up Parry. "Nothing to stop here. Need to regroup. Find Counter. Find Number One. Free, Number One, yes yes." He sucks Parry into his body, and then his body shifts, transforming into a jumbo jet, which flies into the sky. "YOU WILL NOT FLEE ME!" Icarus booms. Kaan'Qsst lowers his hand and turns to Icarus. "They are not our concern now. Blitzkrieg's control is ceased." "But they are your enemies!" "They are not our concern." "But I thought you HATED them!" Kaan'Qsst turns fully to Icarus. "I hate is reserved for one thing. I have never hated the Mega Heroes. Do I take pleasure in fighting back against them? Yes. But they have always been mere obstacles in the path to destroying my true enemy." "The Kraan" Null completes for him. "Yes. Now the Titans have defeated the nanite system, they will be working to restore the city to some order. Then we can return to Earth, and begin the next phase to destroying the Kraan." Icarus locks his gaze with Kaan'Qsst. "And what of helping me with my vengeance, first?" "If we can find what remains of your enemies, I will of course aid you. Without you..." he points to the melted ice "I would be likely dead, or at least trapped and useless. You have earned my help." "And what of this 'hero'?" Icarus points at Null. "I am not with the heroes... tell me, which ones will you be seeking vengeance against?" "Magician! Prometheus, and all their rotten ilk!" Null walks forward. "Such attacks against Team Titan do not go well, my friend." "I do not speak of this Team Titan! ''The ones I mention once belonged to another group. One that spurned me. The ''Society." Null looks to Kaan'Qsst. "I will help you defend my planet, when we return. But I have no interest in pointless conflict with the heroes." Kaan'Qsst looks down to Dark Magician. "Very well... our ally down here is motivated and knowledgeable enough to help Icarus in his appointed task. Icarus, please heal our Dark Magician, if you would. Then, we will start working in seeking our other allies, before the city is returned." The comic cuts to the centre of Titan City, to Dungeon Master, flying on a purple griffon energy construct. Narration- "Not long ago." He watches as a rain of missiles falls on the Megaplex. "Brother... what are you doing? ZZT. Does this mean I win? No wait... ''I ''was supposed to beat you!" The Megaplex explodes, and out of the explosion shoots a beam of white energy, which slams into his body. "ArrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRGZTTTTTTTTTTT!" The next page is a double paged spread. He looks up at the sky, at the reader, as the purple energy leaking out of his eyes turns white, as he holds up his hands as he screams. Around him appear flashes of images, all various scenes from Team Titan Think Tank , from the Games Master's perspective, along with scenes of the Infinity Society, Planet Titan and the Think Tank from the Red's perspective. He also gets iterations of every Team Titan fighting in the Rumble Room. His energy griffon, over three panels, turns from purple to red, as the energy invades it. Then it shatters apart. Dungeon Master falls, crashing through a roof. The reader sees only his hand reaching up, red energy flowing around it. "Must... ZTTTT... find... Kaan'Qsst... FIGHT/help... stop/aid... ZTTT... he wants war... there be must be peace/VENGEANCE ZTTTKLLLLLLLLK." There is only a few spinning streams of red energy marked out in a humanoid outline where Dungeon Master was lying. The comic cuts back to Kaan'Qsst as he sees the razorback retreating backward. "Speaking of allies, what of you?" "I have allies... back in the city." "You think you will reach them before the heroes stop you?" Kaan'Qsst holds a hand out to the dinosaur. "We were helping them. Before all this." "Your leader. Cain,. He is my ally. I can get you to him, if you just wait a moment, I shall contac-" A red burst of light appears in the air above the villains. From it comes a cry of "TELEPORT/MASS EFFECT PORTAL/molecular dispersement and restructuring/flight of the lotus leaf." Dungeon Master lands, emitting a purple corona of energy from his feet, which is sucked back into him, turning into a red corona around him. "Kaan'QZZZZZZZT." "Dungeon Master, I presume. You are malfunctioning." The comic cuts to Kaan'Qsst's vision, where Dungeon Master's seemingly human form is pervaded by black energy, which is cracking apart. "My friends I've come to join you!/Game over, Kaan'Qsst/Kaan'Qsst; bioengineered sentient plant life-form (Vor) possesing unique ability to merge cybernetic matter with organic/Kaan'Qsst please stand down and turn yourself into the correct authorities." Dungeon Master has his back to Null, standing in between him and Kaan'Qsst. Kaan'Qsst looks past Dungeon Master to Null. "Can you restore him?" The comic shows Dungeon Master, as Null sees him. Null doesn't see the black energy that Kaan'Qsst sees, instead he sees a white energy glow, shot through with ripples of purple energy, and overlaying that, are what ripples. "His body has absorbed too much of this dimension's natural energy, which is proving disruptive to him, I assume. Overlaying that is another, very strong energy signature, also taking hold." "The question, Stevens." "I believe if my power was used, it should disrupt the energy signatures and return him to a more stable state y-" Icarus flies over. "You power you say." He flies above Dungeon Master, with blazing white wings of energy now. "But with two energies, perhaps two of us should focus on the task?" Null nods. "Very well." Icarus looks down to Kaan'Qsst. "The wizard can wait." "Very well" says Kaan'Qsst. "No no, I don't want to fight/Fine you want a fight, here comes MORTAAAAL KOMBAT/Scorpion; ninjas, capable of shooting out snares from his hands to pull his enemies into killing range/No, let us talk peacefully." Dungeon Master is holding his hands up pleadingly in one panel, then generating energy coils from his hands in the next, then turns the energy into floating lotus flowers in the next, holding his hands up pleadingly again. And then Null and Icarus bombard him from either side with waves of white energy, Dungeon Master screams. "Yes, let them out/No, this isn't right/Power nullifying energy signatures detected/I don't want to die again." End of issue.